Avoiding the Inevitable
by chasingafterstarlight
Summary: "No, seriously," Beck said, his finger sliding under my chin to push it up so that I was looking him in the eyes. "You're amazing." My head was spinning, but I was determined that I would not become one of those girls, one of those girls that fell hard just because of a few words that some stupid guy said. / Beck/Jade, Cat/Jade friendship. Camp AU.
1. Chapter 1

Avoiding the Inevitable

_Chapter 1_

Beck/Jade, AU

The car legitimately stunk.

Not in the good sort of way, but in the sort of way that makes you think you're going to drown in the stench. I suppose it's one of the side effects of riding with an adolescent boy, but it wasn't as if I had _chosen_ to ride with him. It was just one of those things that had been forced upon me, just like this whole camp business.

Apparently it would be 'good for me' to socialize with other 'young adults' my age. I guess my mom was worried about the rapid deterioration of my mental health following my latest breakup with a guy named Matt. Matt was a jerk and I was better off without him, I'd decided, but apparently my heart hadn't gotten the memo. Pity.

Anyway, I'd cut off all tabs with my former friends and basically turned up my sarcasm and bluntness into high gear, which pretty much scared off any potential friends or romantic interests. And I guess they thought that a summer in camp would be _just_ the thing to remake me into their model Jade West, which would probably be a preppy blonde lifeguard that liked to save small children and puppies. That girl is pretty much the opposite of me.

To make a long story short, I wasn't exactly looking forward to the whole 'camp experience', but I jumped out of the car nonetheless. This seemed to please my mother – probably she _actually_ believed that I was looking forward to Camp Vision, which secretly I liked to call Camp Vomit. I didn't know what I was meant to be envisioning this week at camp, but probably it would be the day that I finally got to leave. And to think this was only the first week of many.

Standing directly in front of me were two of the counselors, judging by their baby blue camp shirts. One of them, a synthetic redhead, grinned widely at me. "You must be Jade West!"

"You're the last to arrive," remarked the other not-so-peppy counselor with small boobs.

"There's a reason for that," I snapped, crossing my arms. "Where am I supposed to be going?"

The redhead yelped and pointed toward a rundown green building, her brown eyes wide. I just smirked and turned back to my mother. "_Bye_."

"Bye, Jade!" my mom called. I didn't even bother saying goodbye to Jeremiah; he'd be at camp soon enough to irritate me all the more. I just stalked off in the direction of the green building that the redhead had pointed out.

Fifteen hundred forms and loads of awkward introductions later, I was in the ugly blue shirt and being drug to my cabin by the peppy redhead, whose name I had discovered was Cat Valentine. I had discovered that in the rules it said that I had to be civil to everyone at camp, and apparently that included annoying redheads. I also knew that it was certainly in my best interests to maintain my job, seeing as my dad had threatened to stop paying for my tuition to Hollywood Arts (the local arts college). Considering my interest in becoming an actress/playwright, that was NOT a good thing at all.

According to Cat, there were six cabins in a unit, and each cabin had a partner cabin. The 'partner cabins' were full of males. This in itself concerned me, but Cat assured me that there were fairly strict rules about that, and anyone caught 'doing anything' would be asked to leave immediately. That was apparently one of my jobs, though I would mainly have younger campers so that wouldn't be a problem. I did have to wonder about the counselors, though.

"Nah," Cat said with a grin. "No counselor romances here so far! We stick to the rules." She grinned. "Anyway, we're at your cabin now, Cabin 16! I'm in your unit, just over there in Cabin 14." She beckoned with her thumb to a cabin nearby that was the same sickening shade of blue-green as mine.

With a frown, I grabbed my bags and offered Cat a parting nod, then stormed through the doors of my cabin. It all seemed a bit bland – I'd have to liven it up, I supposed. Then I stormed into the counselor room and threw down my stuff, quickly beginning to unpack.

It seemed like less than a minute (though I suppose it had to have been longer) before I heard a knock on the door. Quickly I walked over to the door, ready to give whoever it was a piece of my mind, but my mind came to a crashing halt when I saw who was on the other side.

A gorgeous guy stood there. He grinned at me awkwardly, then said, "Can I come in?"

"No," was the first thing that came to my mind, but I followed it up with a quick, "Why should I let you?"

"Because I'm your cabin partner," the guy told me with a hint of a smirk. Then he walked in anyway – without invitation, might I add – and slipped into my room, taking a seat on my bed. "Nice comforter," he commented, which irritated me. After all, my mom had packed the pink and blue striped comforter, _not_ me.

I just scowled at him. The nerve of this guy! Then I said, "_You're _my cabin partner?"

"Yeah," he said slowly, like I was stupid or something. "Problem?"

"Yes, I do have a problem!" I retorted, raising an eyebrow. "I've known you all of five seconds and already you seem like a conceited jerk."

The corner of the dude's mouth quirked up. "I get that a lot," he informed me, and I thought that was probably for a good reason. "I'm Beck Oliver."

As you can imagine, I wanted to give this guy a piece of my mind, but I remembered the whole rule about 'being civil' or some chiz and I bit my tongue. I managed to grit out a halfway civil "Jade West" before averting my gaze.

Fortunately, Beck just laughed. "You don't seem pleased to be here," he observed.

"I don't want to be here," I replied sullenly. "My mom thinks it'll build character, and anyway I'm not an 'alumni' so I don't know anybody and I don't _plan _to know anybody."

Beck just shrugged. "Well, you're not the only one. It's my first year as well, and Tori's too."

Tori. The name sounded familiar, but I shrugged it off and decided to move on. "What exactly does cabin partners entail?" I inquired.

"Entail?" Beck stared at me for a minute, then grinned. "You use such big words."

"At least I can speak properly, unlike you." I scowled. "Answer my question."

"It means that we have to sit together at meals, do a couple of activities together, all kinds of stuff like that." Beck gave a small shrug. "You know, normal stuff."

I didn't think all of that stuff was normal, but I nodded anyway. "_Great_."

/

All of the 'cabin leaders' in our unit had to sit together at dinner that night, so that meant I was stuck with Beck, Cat, her cabin partner Robbie, and two other freaky cabin leaders – an annoying brunette named Trina, who was apparently the sister of that Tori chick (who, according to Cat, was the girl who'd been with Cat this morning) and a stalkerish guy named Sinjin. Thankfully, Tori was in Unit 1, _not _Unit 3.

Cat babbled on about her brother while the rest of us looked on in concern. At last, I interrupted and asked darkly, "Um, Cat, does your brother have mental problems?"

Of course, that made little Cat squeal, "What's that supposed to mean?" and stare at me with wide, dark eyes. I quickly said "sorry", only because I didn't want her to cry. Thankfully, Robbie's known Cat for quite a while, so he took her away to deal with her, leaving me with Beck, Trina, and Sinjin.

Cat had been wrong about one thing – the counselors _did _flirt quite a bit. In fact, all of the girls seemed

bent on flirting with Beck, including Trina. I guess she couldn't have known, since it was Beck's first year, but anyway. That left Sinjin to awkwardly smile at me and try to strike a conversation about how my eyes reflected the moonlight and what kind of toothbrush I had. Not exactly my type of guy. (Not that I have a type, cause I don't.)

Anyway, I was getting kind of fed up with the whole situation, and Beck must have sensed it. He walked over and grabbed my hand, pulling me up from the table, and said quickly to the head counselor (a slightly loopy sort of older guy named Sikowitz), "Jade and I are going to head back to the cabin for a little bit of planning, if that's okay."

He agreed and told us to be back at the dining hall at 3 for more planning, but that was in two hours so we quickly agreed and took off. I let go of his hand as soon as we got out of the dining hall and raised an eyebrow at him. Beck just laughed.

"Trina's not exactly my type," he explained, "and, well, you didn't seem to be having much fun either, so I thought I'd get us both out of it."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "We're not going to be planning, are we? Because I _hate_ planning, almost as much as I _hate_ these scratchy shirts."

He just grinned and ran a hand through his hair. "Nah. I thought I'd give you a tour, actually."

"And you know the camp so well?" I questioned, not refusing the tour – despite how conceited and annoying Beck was, his company was definitely preferable to Sinjin's, or worse, Trina or Tori's. "I mean, this is your first year as well, right?"

"Yeah, but Tori gave me a tour earlier today," he explained. For some reason, that made me even more irritated at Tori, though I couldn't exactly explain why. It wasn't like I had any interest in Beck Oliver _romantically_. I mean, sure, he was attractive, but his personality was as bland as unsweet tea.

I nodded my head, not really sure of what else to do. Then he took off walking, pointing out all of the 'important' things, and I tried to match his pace.

One thing that Cat had said about the cabin partners stuck out in my mind. Naturally, she'd said, there were quite a few occasions where the partners were given the chance to compete.

As I followed him, a small smile made its way onto my face. _Bring it on, Beck Oliver_, I thought, then stepped up the pace.

/

The rest of the week was filled with incessant, boring training and planning. I spoke to Beck (and, well, everyone _else_) only when necessary; I wasn't looking to make 'life-long' friendships like they were. Beck seemed to have built up a fanclub of bimbos, yet he hardly ever showed interest in them. In fact, he seemed to show more interest in _me_ than them, and I was hardly ever even nice to him.

Camp officially begun the next Monday. I was told that I wouldn't have a CIT this week, not until next week, they said. I didn't mind much; it was difficult enough dealing with ten young girls without throwing an annoying teenage girl in there as well.

I was told to sit in the cabin and wait until the girls showed up, so that was just what I did. That was, until Beck showed up.

"Don't you have campers to wait for?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Beck said with a shrug, "but they never show up on time. Registration goes freakishly slow. These are the things you need to learn, young grasshopper."

"What, has Tori been giving you advice?" I asked in a mocking tone.

"Nah, Robbie told me," Beck replied with a slight grin. I tried to picture Robbie and Beck having a heart-to-heart chat, but the picture was actually quite ridiculous, what with Robbie's curly mop of brown hair, super pale skin, and nerdy glasses. "Why? You jealous?"

"As if," I said quickly with a not-so-ladylike snort. Of course, the door burst open then, revealing a small blonde girl with freckles and mischievous blue eyes.

She strode right up to me, apparently having no qualms about speaking to strangers. With a small smirk, she asked me forcefully, "Are you my counselor?"

"Yeah, I'm Jade," I said bluntly. "Pick a bunk and put your stuff down."

Relentlessly, the girl continued. "Is he your boyfriend? Are you _supposed_ to have your boyfriend in the cabin? My momma says to never be alone with guys."

"He's _definitely _not my boyfriend," I assured the girl quickly, shooting a quick glare at Beck. "He's the counselor for the cabin next door, actually. _And_ he was just leaving."

"Yeah, I was," Beck said with a small wave. "See ya, Jade. Bye..." He trailed off, staring at the girl.

"Sophia," the girl declared self-importantly, turning back to me as Beck left. "He's not bad-looking. If you want a boyfriend, he should be your boyfriend."

"Not happening," I informed Sophia. "Now hurry up and get your bed ready. We're going swimming in an hour or so."

Within the next thirty minutes, my other nine girls arrived. Layla, a small girl with wavy, dark brown hair and bright blue-green eyes, Anna, a tomboyish redhead, Carrie, a slightly shy girl, Katie, a girl with dark almond eyes who looked like she could pack a punch if necessary, Reina, a girl who decided to act like a total and complete diva, Sidney, an even-tempered girl with pretty chocolate skin (although I strongly dislike the word 'pretty'), Mara, a girl who didn't seem happy to be there _at all_, Lexie, who seemed excited about everything, and Mallory, her brunette best friend with a weird laugh. All of them were ages eight to eleven, practically babies (at least in my eyes).

Lexie led the way to the pool, prancing back and forth in her polka-dotted bathing suit. It was then that I realized that swimming was with the entire unit, and therefore Mr. Oliver and his lovely cabin would be there as well. At least I'd packed a bathing suit that covered my belly (I absolutely _loathe_ the word tankini), so he couldn't perv on me.

As soon as I got in the pool, half of my cabin decided that it was in my best interest for me to be splashed, and despite my protests, they drenched me in water. I growled and hissed and did all the typical scary stuff, and yet these girls weren't scared of me when half of my high school (full of HIGH SCHOOLERS) was!

Then I heard a hearty laugh from behind me, and of course when I spun around, that idiot Beck Oliver was standing right behind me. So basically he was pretty much asking for it. Anyway, I managed to pin him down in no time and get him down in the water, soaking every inch of his pretty boy head. He then resurfaced and proceeded to find out that I was quite ticklish, and well, he can be pretty relentless when he wants to be.

Once he let me go at last, I realized that all the girls (and heck, some of Beck's boys) were staring at us. One of Cat's girls asked quietly, "Is that _allowed_?"

"Well, he's her boyfriend," Sophia said self-importantly. "So that's allowed! It's called flirting."

And then I proceeded to sink down in the water and drown. If only.

/

I tried to avoid Beck for the rest of the day, mainly since I was so embarrassed. Cat, of course, came up to me and asked if Beck and I were dating. I vehemently denied it, but I doubt she got the point, because two minutes later Robbie came up to me and congratulated me because Beck's 'a fairly good-looking man'. Sometimes I wonder about that guy.

At this rate, the camp administrator, apparently some woman named Helen, would find out soon enough, and then I'd be sent home just like _that_. And I wasn't even _dating_ Beck! I didn't want to, either.

But unfortunately, at dinner, our unit was at one long cafeteria-style table. And he didn't seem to have any qualms about plopping down beside me, because that was just what he did. He turned to grin at me. "We're going to wipe the floors with you during Cabin Cleanup tomorrow."

I have a slightly competitive nature, just so you know and all. So I couldn't resist. I had to retort with, "In your dreams, Oliver. We're the real champions." Then all of my girls chimed in with simultaneous "Yeah!" exclamations, which made it feel like I had a gang or something, I don't know.

"We'll see about that," Beck replied with a quiet chuckle. This, of course, started an argument between the boys in Beck's cabin and the girls in my cabin, which turned out to be exactly what Beck had wanted. He turned to me with a small half-smile. "You seem a little bit uptight."

"Half the camp thinks that we're dating," I retorted through gritted teeth, glancing around and hoping that no one was watching us.

"Why's that so bad?" Beck wondered, as if he genuinely _did not _know.

"Because we're not, you imbecile!" I exploded, glaring at him. Shouldn't _that_ much be obvious?

Beck just shrugged and held my gaze for a minute, long enough to make me uncomfortable, then he turned back to his plate and took a bite of his hot dog. "This camp food is actually really good. Joshua, what do you think?"

I groaned and nearly shoved my forehead into a plate full of baked beans, which sent Mallory into peals of hysterical laughter. Yeah, this was _definitely_ character building.

/

By the time bedtime finally rolled around, I was absolutely exhausted. I did have to put the girls to bed first, though, and that turned into a huge ordeal.

"I'm scared of the dark," Carrie whimpered, pushing a dark curl behind her ear. "I can't sleep when it's this dark."

Truthfully, it wasn't really dark at all, but of course I couldn't say that. I just bit my lip to keep from saying anything hurtful or sarcastic, because she was, after all, only a child, and then plugged in her nightlight by her bed. Of course, as soon as I'd finished that, yet another girl woke up and immediately burst into tears.

I slipped over to Layla's bedside and wiped the tears from her cheek with a tissue, then quietly asked, "What's wrong?"

"I keep having nightmares," Layla whimpered. "My mommy and daddy fight a lot, and it scares me, so I sometimes have nightmares at night." She frowned and let another tear slip down her cheek.

"It'll be okay," I promised at last, although I knew I could not honestly promise anything. I mean, I knew how she felt, at least."I know it will be okay." Then I sang to her, one of the hymns I'd heard back in grade school. Thankfully, Layla drifted off to sleep. It was then that I finally got to slip into my bed and drift off to sleep.

/

Of course, Beck Oliver plopped down beside me at breakfast the next day. He grinned and raised an eyebrow at me. "Nice hairdo."

My hair was slightly puffy, due to the fact that I hadn't had time to dry it or really do anything to it last night. I rolled my eyes at him, taking in his hair – as shiny and perfect as always, much to my dismay. Instead of saying this, though, I just made a face at him. "I could say the same for you."

"Except my hair looks gorgeous," Beck said confidently, running a hand through his hair. I wondered if this was one of the methods he used to pick up girls. If he was trying to pick me up, though, it _wasn't _going to work. I wasn't here to have some stupid little summer fling. In fact, if it was up to me, I wouldn't even be here at all.

"You wish," I scoffed. "Now, is there something you want, or are you just here to annoy me?"

"I just wanted to let you know that we're going to wipe the floor with you for Cabin Cleanup," Beck told me with a small chuckle. "Possibly literally."

I raised an eyebrow at him. "In your dreams, Oliver. We're going to win."

Robbie, who had unfortunately chosen to sit directly across from us, jumped in with a quick, "Hey, who's to say that _I'm _not going to win Cabin Cleanup? I mean, I have some pretty efficient cleaning skills!"

"Yeah, or maybe I could win," Cat jumped in, looking slightly wounded. "Or maybe even Trina or Sinjin! Who knows?" Robbie, of course, nodded in agreement, then smiled at Cat, making his interest in her painfully obvious. Yeah, so much for _no romance_, Cat!

I glanced over at Beck and we both immediately burst into laughter, which made Cat and Robbie frown all the more. At last, I said, "Yeah, I'm sure one of you guys _could_ win. But this is kinda a thing between Beck and I, and well, I made sure my campers did a brilliant job cleaning up."

There was a slight glint in Beck's eyes as he glanced over at me. "I made sure of the same thing."

"I guess we'll have to wait and see then!" Cat chirped, glancing between the two of us. My mouth curved up into a wicked smile.

"Still doubt Robbie's gonna win, though," I had to add. Of course, that made all of his campers start protesting at once, saying how they had really worked very hard (doubtful) and how Robbie was actually a good cabin leader, although he was a bit weird (this made me laugh). Robbie just shook his head and scowled at me.

Beck just smiled over at me, a secretive, mysterious sort of smile that made me wonder what went on in his messed-up, pretty boy head.

/

They waited until lunch to announce the winner of Cabin Cleanup, which meant that Beck was sitting right beside me once again, much to my dismay. I scowled at him, remembering that I had resolved not to make any friendships, and besides he looked entirely confident that he was going to win. That in itself scared me.

Helen made her way to the front and grinned at all of us, her pet rats here at Camp Vomit. She grinned brightly at everyone, then said, "Hey, people. We're so glad to have you all here at Camp Vision! Now who's ready for the results of Cabin _Cleanup_?"

Everyone yelled, but apparently it wasn't loud enough for Helen, because she yelled "I can't hear you!" That only increased the sound level, and I had to plug my ears. I _hate_ screaming.

She started out with Unit 1, of course, and the winner was Tori's cabin – no surprise there! Of course Little Miss Perfect Counselor would win that too. A rebellious looking guy (who was admittedly kind of hot) stood up to claim the prize for Unit 2, and then at last it was Unit 3.

"The winner is..." Helen said, trailing off to add to the suspense, "...Cabin _15_!"

It took me a moment to realize that was _Beck's cabin_. And then my mouth dropped open.

Beck's boys were jumping around and yelling like miniature banshees, while my girls looked a combination of shocked and disappointed. Beck was ecstatic, possibly moreso than the boys in his cabin, and as soon as he claimed the flag, he returned to rub it in my face. "I told you so, Jade!"

"Yeah, yeah," I mumbled, not meeting his eyes. I was slightly embarrassed, to say the least, and at the same time, slightly bitter. After all, the girls in my cabin and I had worked hard. The looks on their faces were quite possibly the worst part.

He grinned, waving the flag in front of my face one last time, then setting the pole on his shoulder so that the flag flew proudly behind him. At last, he took a seat – right next to me again, probably to show off his stupid flag. "Looks like you're going to have to step it up a bit," he said, handing me a blue sheet of paper.

It was the scoring sheet for my cabin. I had no idea why they'd given it to him; it was really none of his business. But then again, Beck could probably get anything he wanted just because of his good looks and his extremely fluffy hair. It was yet another reason that I should hate this boy, really.

I read over it quickly, seeing that I'd forgotten to turn off the lights and that we needed to be more careful about dirt and uniformity. We had a _95_, anyway, which would be plenty good enough for me under normal circumstances. Curiously, I snatched up the paper for Beck's cabin and saw that they'd given him a _99._

"99?" I inquired, glancing up at him from over the sheet of paper. "You weren't good enough for a 100?"

"Offensive," Beck replied, pretending to look offended. "We had a bit of dirt on the floor; nothing too scandalous. Besides, I doubt that they give anyone a perfect score."

"They could," I said. In my defense, it was a reflex – it was in my nature to challenge everything, especially if someone said that I couldn't do something, because I very well could, thank you very much. "In fact, _I _could. Just you watch. Tomorrow I'm gonna get a perfect score."

"Doubt that." Beck chuckled softly. _Chiz, _he was so annoying. "You can't even beat me!"

"Can too," I replied. At that point, people were finally beginning to trickle out, so I picked up my tray angrily and stormed over to the trashcan. My girls all followed me indignantly, shooting angry glares at Beck as they left.

Reina put her hands on her hips dramatically as we walked out. "Are you and Beck _fighting_? Are you gonna break up?"

I glanced over at her. "You can't break up if you were never dating in the first place."

"Want me to beat him up?" Katie asked darkly, sending the rest of the girls into peals of laughter. I just shook my head and kept walking. This was why it was best to keep my distance.

This whole ordeal reminded me slightly of the disaster with Matt, and that was one thing I'd been hoping to avoid at camp. I didn't want to be reminded of Matt.

I just wanted to forget.

/

My girls had free time at around 5 that day, which meant I was free for an hour. Of course, Beck had to show up and ruin my one time of relaxation, most likely to show off about how he was right (which was something that I really couldn't care less about).

He strode in the door and positioned himself so that he was standing right in front of my bed. With a small half-smile, he said, "Jade."

"What do you want?" I groaned, looking up from the very interesting, not at all girly book I had been reading and raising an eyebrow. I didn't know if this was how he usually wooed girls, but if so, he had a lot of work to do.

"I won," he told me again, giving me a small smile.

"So what?" I exclaimed, giving him a dark glare in return. What did he want? An admission that I was wrong? A ten-hour gloating party?

"So you owe me something," Beck replied, sitting down beside me and staring at me with his stupid chocolate eyes. He looked like a small puppy instead of an annoying boy, which was slightly endearing, but mostly irritating. At last, he finished. "Will you go on a walk with me?"

Was that it? I stared at him, puzzled. I'd been expecting something embarrassing; you know, him forcing me to say in front of everyone that he was better than me or something. But perhaps he wanted to, I dunno, walk me to my demise. I agreed nonetheless, because I didn't know what else to do, and admittedly I was a little bit curious. Was that so wrong?

Beck smiled over at me. "You look a little nervous."

"You look like you're plotting to embarrass me in front of all the imbeciles at this camp," I spat back.

At once, he stopped walking. He just stared at me with dark eyes. After a minute of this, he finally said, "Do you think that lowly of me?"

"Yes," I replied, crossing my arms and staring defiantly at him.

"I wouldn't do that to you," he informed me, running a hand through his hair, and oddly enough he actually sounded serious. Somehow his hand made its way to my shoulder and he squeezed it. "I don't actually think I would do that to anyone. So calm down."

For whatever reason, I believed him, so I gave him a tiny nod. He gave me a small smile and started walking again, removing his hand from my shoulder. "I hear you're an actress."

"You could say that," I confirmed with a nod. "I do have an interest in writing plays and singing as well, though. I'm not _just _an actress."

This made a small smile flicker onto his face. "Sing something for me."

"What? No," I said quickly, raising an eyebrow. Why would he want me to sing? Furthermore, why would I sing for him? I didn't even _like _him!

"Please," he pleaded, which was pretty weird, because normally he liked to act all blasé and chill, like nothing fazed him. "How about we make a deal? If you like the place I take you to, then you have to sing for me."

"Deal," was my immediate response. I didn't like anything, especially not him, so probably I wouldn't like wherever the heck he took me to. And if I did... well, I could deal with that if it actually happened, which it probably wouldn't.

But once we got there, I realized that I had been proven wrong once again. The view was breathtaking – rolling hills and beautiful green trees, all laid out in front of a baby blue sky. Even though I hated most everything, this wasn't something that I was capable of hating. I just stood there for a moment, mesmerized by its beauty, until an annoying voice broke through my haze.

"Was I right, or was I right?" he asked with a confident grin, coming over to sit down on the rock beside me. I sat down hesitantly beside him and he chuckled. "Let's hear that gorgeous voice of yours now."

His confidence in me was startling; for all he knew, I could have the voice of a dying cow. But I rolled my eyes anyway and asked, "What song?"

He looked stumped for a moment, but then he responded, "Do you know the song Okay? Because it's a really pretty song, and..."

"Yeah, I know it," I replied immediately. I didn't mention that it was actually one of my favorite songs; no need for the kid to think we had similar tastes in music. I wasn't going to lead him on or anything. Really, I was doing him a favor.

He raised an eyebrow and I begun to sing. It was really an odd situation; no one ever asked me to sing for them, but then again I suppose Beck Oliver wasn't the normal sort of guy.

In all honesty, I wasn't the best singer, but despite it all, Beck looked mesmerized. His eyes were wide and his face split into a grin as I finished. After a second of staring at me, like he was drinking me in or something (and yes, it _was_ as creepy as it sounds), he said softly, "That was amazing."

I couldn't help it. A slow blush crept up over my cheeks. No one ever complimented my singing, after all. Ducking my head, I just gave a nod in response. "Thanks."

"No, seriously," Beck said, his finger sliding under my chin to push it up so that I was looking him in the eyes. "You're amazing."

And _then _my head was spinning, because let's face it, not many people told a girl like me that I was amazing. However, I was determined that I would not become one of _those girls_, one of those girls that fell hard just because of a few words that some stupid guy said. Beck was leaning in a bit, like he wanted to kiss me, but I pulled back before he could. Not happening.

"So how'd you find this place?" I asked quietly, glancing around.

Beck ran a hand through his hair, giving me a small smile. "It wasn't hard. Last week, during our breaks, I got bored and went on hikes, and I just happened upon this place one day. I decided it was the one place I didn't want to leave."

"Do you usually want to leave places?" I asked teasingly, though I knew what he meant. It was odd to consider the fact that Beck Oliver and I might actually have something in common. I'd grown so accustomed to automatically disliking the things that he enjoyed.

"Not when you're here," he replied flirtatiously, a teasing glint in his eye. I just socked him in the shoulder and laughed, an odd sound. It was weird how I was starting to warm up to him.

Actually, everything about this was weird.

/

**A/N: Yes another multichap I know you all HATE ME but like okay I have all of this written so I can publish it whenever but it was 15K+ words so I wasn't gonna publish it as a oneshot. Anyway. Hope you liked it. I know it's bad and a bit rushed but whatevs LOL. (I blame Alyssa for everything kthanksbye.) **

**Please review. Don't fave without reviewing!**


	2. Chapter 2

Avoiding the Inevitable

_Chapter 2_

Beck/Jade, AU

Despite my inhibitions, I spent the rest of my break time with Beck Oliver. Eyebrows were raised when we walked into the dining hall together, though. Not that I really cared what they thought. It was just odd having everyone assuming that I was dating him.

The rest of the day passed fairly quickly, and even the night seemed shorter, probably because there were no girls up walking around and sobbing because they were scared of the dark. They all slept through the night, thankfully, so I wasn't completely grumpy when I woke up in the morning.

Cat won Cabin Capers the next day, much to everyone's surprise. She just grinned and did a little dance. She only got a 98 though (I'd gotten a 97, which was, in fact, an improvement).

After lunch that day was the talent show. The talent show was the one thing that the staff had all precariously planned out, and oddly enough, I was in an act with Beck, Cat, Robbie, Sinjin, and Trina. Not like I'd picked my group, honestly, it was more like they'd picked me. Unit unity and all, you know? But anyway.

All of my girls were constantly asking me if I was in the talent show, so of course I had to tell them yes. Then they wanted to know if I was in an act with Beck. I had no idea what had started this obsession over my nonexistent relationship with Beck, but then again I wasn't sure that I wanted to know. I told them yes, but they needed to calm down because there was _nothing going on_ between Beck and I. Nothing at all.

Of course, for our act, I had to dress up in an ugly, poofy dress that made me look like some freak from the 1900s. Trina and Cat had to wear similar dresses, of course, and Robbie, Sinjin, and Beck were all in ridiculous-looking male versions of our dresses. We all started cracking up upon seeing each other – obviously, Sinjin looked the worst, but Trina was a close second.

"You look like a parlor maid, Jade," Robbie got out through snorts. Probably then he realized that maid rhymed with Jade and that just made the whole thing funnier, because he started laughing even harder. I rolled my eyes. The people at this camp were all just so annoyingly weird.

"Least I don't look like a woman," I retorted, flipping my hair. "I mean, it's really quite creepy that we both look like princesses." Cat and Robbie gasped, obviously scandalized, but Beck and Trina both laughed. Sinjin gave me a creepy smile. Typical.

Anyway, after what felt like ages of this stupid, pointless bickering backstage, we were ushered onto the stage for our lovely act. Of course, the whole auditorium burst into laughter at the sight of us; it wasn't every day that they got to see their counselors dressed up like fluffy poodles. I glared and muttered "I was _forced_ to do this," though I doubt any of them heard me over the simultaneous laughter and applause.

The stupid old-timey music came on then, and so we began our 'complex' dance. It was purposefully awkward; Trina tripped over Sinjin's feet and then slapped him on the head. Cat did a long spin and ran into me, pushing me into Beck's chest. Beck just laughed and held me there for a second as we listened to the laughter of the children.

As the laughter began to die down, Beck whispered, "I think you look beautiful, Princess Jade." And then, before I could so much as react, he spun me again, making me nearly fall on top of Robbie.

My head was spinning again, which made me all the more irritated. Nonetheless, I finished the dance, making sure to trip Beck (and then all of my girls applauded, much to my dismay).

As I took a bow, I glanced over at Beck. Beck was smiling from ear to ear, and his smile didn't fade as my glance turned into a glare. There were no words for my disdain for him.

Yet somehow I wanted to hear him say I was pretty again.

/

"You're unbelievable," I stormed under my breath as we walked back to our cabins, our kids trailing dutifully behind us. "Seriously, dude, I already know I looked bad. No need to _rub it in_."

Stupidface Beck Oliver just glanced over at me, clearly amused. "I wasn't kidding. But anyway, if you're so worked up about it, come over to my cabin later tonight and I'll make it up to you."

"That sounds so wrong," I replied, chuckling humorlessly. "And anyway, isn't that against the rules?"

"Yes," he answered at once, "but since when are you the type to care about what is or isn't against the rules?" He raised an eyebrow at me, obviously questioning whether I was as bad as I liked to seem. "Besides, knowing you, you wouldn't get caught."

"I know I wouldn't," I told him, placing one hand on my hip to show him how _tough_ I really was.

"So you'll be there?" Beck asked, a confident smile decorating his admittedly pretty face. How could I refuse?

"Guess so," I informed him. "But you'd better not let me down." He smirked, implying that he didn't plan to, and I resisted the urge to smack him in the face. Seriously, his unshakeable confidence had to be the thing that I hated the most about him.

Of course, Anna jumped on me as soon as Beck moved away, a smirk playing at her lips as well. "What were you and Beck talking about?"

"Hopefully a way to escape this stupid camp," Mara said in an angry tone, her face twisted into a scowl.

"Or a secret kissing spot," Mallory jumped in with a giggle, making all the other girls say 'ewww' in a grossed out sort of tone. That was one thing they didn't have to worry about; I wouldn't be kissing Beck Oliver any time soon.

"Nothing," I said sharply, interrupting the chorus of 'ews' and giggles. "Nothing at all."

/

Later that night, before my scheduled meetup with Mr. Oliver, my unit leader confronted me. Even for someone as intimidating as me, what with my eyebrow piercings and dark makeup, that girl scared me. She looked sort of like a girly-girl, what with her curly blonde hair and bright blue eyes, but there was something in her stance and her no-nonsense tone of voice that was intimidating.

"So, Jade," she said with a slight frown, staring at me. "I've noticed that you've been spending quite a bit of time with Beck Oliver, and you know, there have been rumors circulating around about the two of you, so I just..."

I cut her off. "If this conversation is going where I think it's going, then I'm out."

"Jade West," Sam said sternly. "I can't stop you from dating Poodle Boy, because we haven't actually got any rules forbidding that, but anything beyond innocent kissing is strictly forbidden. Same with neglecting your cabin to go be sappy with Poodle Hair."

I groaned. "I'm _not _dating Beck! We're just friends, if that."

"If you say so," Sam replied, a wicked grin playing at her lips. "But hey, that's what they all say."

/

By the time I got to Beck's cabin later that night, I was absolutely fuming. He just grinned at me with that stupid crooked smile, not even looking concerned in the least, and that infuriated me all the more. "Something wrong?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Everyone thinks we're dating," I grumbled, plopping down on his bed. "And it's sort of annoying, to say the least, _considering we're not_."

"I'm aware," Beck said with a teasing smile. "But hey, it's a compliment. People think you can get someone as good looking as me."

My eyebrow shot up. "Do you _have _to do that all the time?"

"Do what?" he asked innocently, the smile not fading from his face.

"Every time I think that I could actually _like _you, you start acting all conceited and stupid again, and then I start to hate you," I replied sharply, glaring at him. Even this didn't seem to faze him, much to my annoyance.

He just raised an eyebrow. "So you think I'm conceited and stupid?"

"Pretty much," I agreed. Who cared if it was mean? After all, I didn't like him, and therefore I shouldn't be concerned about 'hurting his feelings' or something incredibly irrelevant like that.

He sat there for a second, looking like he was pondering something. Then he said confidently, "I don't believe you."

The nerve of him! My jaw dropped in shock. How could he not believe me? Then I glared at him. "Didn't I come here for you to make it up to me? _Not _for me to just get angrier at you?"

He laughed, then stood up, reached into his drawer and threw a bunch of bars of chocolate at me. "Will that be enough, m'lady?"

I glanced down at the chocolate bars – 3 Musketeers, Kit-Kat, Hershey – and then back up at him, a small smile forming on my face (which, for me, was incredibly rare). "You're unbelievable," I said at last. "Where did you get all this chiz?"

"I have a stash, duh," he replied, sitting back down beside me – uncomfortably close, might I add. "Sometimes the food here is sick, and not the good kind of sick."

"I know," I agreed, swinging my combat boots back and forth (I hadn't taken my shoes off; what did I care if he got dirt on his floor?). "That's why I sometimes call this place Camp Vomit. I, for one, think that it would be a much more appropriate name."

That made him burst out laughing, and when at last he calmed down, he grinned over at me. "Nah, you're the one who's unbelievable."

I stared at him. "Good unbelievable or bad unbelievable?"

"Good." Beck laughed again. "Definitely good."

And, well, that's when it happened.

One of us leaned in – I'd like to think it was Beck, but I'm not sure. Either way, I was suddenly kissing the guy I'd claimed to hate, and it wasn't a simple peck either. His hands were tangled in my raven hair and my hands, in retaliation, were tugging on his hair, pulling him closer. Then all of a sudden the implications of what we were doing slammed into me, and I jerked back.

"What the heck?" I asked, my breathing coming faster than normal. I didn't wait for a response, though; I grabbed my bag and dashed out of the cabin, biting down on my lip.

Quickly, I walked back to my cabin and tiptoed into my room, then threw on some pajamas and climbed into my bed. I couldn't fall asleep, though, however hard I tried. Images of Beck and yes, Beck and I, ran through my mind. I hated him, right? I hated everybody at this stupid camp. Then why had I enjoyed kissing him?

/

At breakfast the next day, I made sure to sit as far away from Beck Oliver as possible. In fact, I plopped down beside Cat, trying to ignore the fact that Trina made sure to sit as _close_ to Beck as possible. When I was sure that Beck (and, well, everyone else who would care) was out of earshot, I leaned over to Cat and whispered, "Beck and I kissed last night." If there was one person at this stupid camp who would listen to my problems and care (or, at least, _try_ to), it was Cat.

Just like I'd thought, she let out a squeal, but then clapped her hands over her mouth. The girls all turned to stare at us, but I dismissed them with a scowl. "Really?" Cat chirped.

"Yes, really," I replied impatiently. "Not like I'd make something freaky like that up."

"Do you _like _him?" Cat inquired, looking slightly starry-eyed, which scared me more than anything else. I didn't like Beck Oliver. I couldn't.

"No," I retorted. "It just happened, okay? He said I was unbelievable, like _good_ unbelievable, and then somebody leaned in and we were kissing. It's not really a big deal, least I don't think so."

"Oh, is that why you're avoiding him then?" Cat asked me with a smirk.

My face immediately went red. I spluttered out, "I am _not_ avoiding him!", all the while trying to avoid his gaze. Then I lowered my voice. "Look, I just... didn't want to sit next to him. That's understandable! I don't like him."

"Oh, then go talk to him," Cat replied innocently, grinning from ear to ear.

I lowered my head into my arms, moaning out a low "nooo". This whole situation was beyond messed up. "Why can't I just go home now?" I whimpered. "I don't want to face Beck Oliver ever again. Heck, I don't want to face anyone ever again."

Cat just patted my back. "It'll be okay."

/

From then on, my day mainly consisted of avoiding Beck. We won Cabin Cleanup (I _knew_ we would), but I didn't even gloat. That was, until he walked up to me, that _stupid_ smirk on his face. "So, looks like you won. Aren't you gonna rub it in?"

For the first time, I considered that maybe he actually didn't _want_ things to be awkward. In an attempt to keep it up, I shrugged. "I told you I would win, Beck."

"Did you get a hundred?" Beck inquired curiously.

My face immediately went blank. Of course, they had given us a 99, which meant I was sorta thinking that maybe Beck was right, that maybe they didn't give anyone a 100. Not that I would ever admit that. I just shrugged in a blasé sort of way. "Nah, just a 99. But we'll get a 100 next time, mark my words."

"I'm counting on it," he said with a laugh. Then, just like the idiot he was, he leaned close to my ear, close enough that I could feel his breath, and whispered, "But I have to admit, Jade West, I didn't think you'd win Cabin Cleanup. You just don't seem like the type. I guess you proved me wrong, though."

And just like that, my mind was blown again. I watched him watch off, my mouth agape, and wondered when I'd become so completely _screwed_.

/

That night, Cat's cabin came over to my cabin for a little 'party' of sorts. Of course, just like the young girls that they obviously were, they wanted to talk about boys. Cat just raised an eyebrow at me and grinned.

"Have you got a boyfriend, Cat?" they asked my redheaded 'friend' (of sorts, just don't tell anybody).

Cat smiled innocently, then shook her head. "Not really."

That managed to catch the girls' attention. "Not really?" Lexie exclaimed. Sidney hit her on the arm, signaling that she needed to calm down, but Lexie grinned anyway.

"Well..." Cat looked down, blushing. "This one guy asked me out! And I dunno, I'm thinking about saying yes, but I'm not sure." Of course, as soon as she said this, I knew immediately who she was talking about. He couldn't have been any more obvious. She nudged me and put a finger to her lips, swearing me to secrecy. I just nodded in response.

"Who is it?" one of Cat's girls squealed.

"Tell us," Layla agreed with a bright smile. She really was quite adorable – and she seemed familiar somehow. Something about her eyes and her smile, really.

"She can't tell you," I interrupted abruptly. "It's in our contract."

Of course, this put the spotlight on me. Reina is the first to tear in, kind of like a hungry lion. "So Jade, do you have a boyfriend?" Her eyes are bright, her face smiling, and it's sad to think that I really have no answer to her question. I am still conflicted on whether I even _like _Beck or not, much less want him to be my boyfriend.

I go with the simple and short answer. "No."

"I thought Beck was your boyfriend," Mara interrupts wryly, glancing up from the book that is splayed across her lap to stare at Jade. "At least, that's what Sophia always says, and she swears she knows for sure."

"I didn't say that!" Sophia pouts. "I just said that I thought he was her boyfriend, cause they act like it _lots _of times and I dunno, it just seems like it."

"We do not," I protested weakly, but it was too late because pretty much everyone was nodding in agreement. Cat sent me a sympathetic stare, probably understanding that I was conflicted about everything. I mean, it wasn't like Beck had ever really expressed a desire to go out with him. Sighing, I decided to change the subject. "Layla, come over here and I'll braid your hair." Cat had taught me at the beginning of camp to braid hair, and this turned out to be a great thing, because as soon as I offered, all the other girls wanted their hair braided too.

Cat and I spent the rest of the night doing hair, both in braids and ridiculous, messed up styles. All the while, I kept thinking about Beck – about that insane kiss that should really never have happened, about whether or not I even wanted to be his girlfriend, about all the implications that would come along with that. I didn't want a summer fling; I didn't want to be yet another notch on his tally list of girlfriends.

Before I went back to my cabin, Cat grabbed my shoulder and held me back. She gave me a small smile. "I know you'll figure all this out, Jadey. You're really smart."

I returned the smile as best I could, trying to ignore the fact that she had called me 'Jadey'. "Thanks, Cat. You're not so dumb yourself."

She gave me a grin and bounced out, as peppy as ever. I watched her and thought to myself that I had vowed before coming to make no friends or romantic interests, yet somehow it seemed that I had gained one of each. It was funny how things turned out.

/

The next morning, I got up early for no real reason. I suppose you could say that I was in a good mood, though with me, I was never really in a good mood. Since I still had an hour till my girls were meant to be up and they didn't seem to be showing signs of waking up any time soon, I decided to break the rules and go for a quick walk.

Apparently, I wasn't the only one.

As I walked down one of the many trails that weaved through the camp, my eyes fell upon two people. Unfortunately, one of my many flaws is that I am extremely nosy, so I had to know what was going on. So basically I crept through the woods and hid behind a nearby tree, then waited for the two people to walk up.

Once they did, I realized that the two people were Beck and Tori, and that they were walking close together, close enough that I was fairly certain that their hands were brushing – that is, if they weren't holding hands. The surge of anger (and jealousy, I was fairly sure) that ran through me startled me. I hadn't realized that I cared for stupid counselor Beck Oliver so much.

I could only hear snippets of their conversation, but it sounded like he was saying the word 'love', and he was saying it to _Tori_. Rage was the only tangible emotion I had. Just yesterday he was kissing me and flirting with me, and now he was talking to Tori about love.

Quickly I dashed back to my cabin, trying as hard as I could not to wake the girls up, yet when I slipped into the room, all ten of them were sitting up in their beds, staring at me.

"Well," Katie said with a wicked grin. "Where have you been?"

"Nowhere," I mumbled, fully aware of the fact that I owed them no explanation. "Get dressed. We are meant to be at breakfast in thirty minutes." Then I ducked into my room, put my head in my hands, and tried to sift through my thoughts.

(Long story short: it didn't work.)

/

This time, I legitimately avoided Beck. He smiled at me at breakfast; I averted my eyes. All of my girls drilled me incessantly with questions, but I ignored those questions. I devoted all of my energy to taking care of the girls in my cabin and avoiding Beck. All of them (except for Mara, who just kept staring at me out of lidded eyes) gave me a hug after breakfast. Had I been anyone else, I would've said that it was kinda adorable how much these girls cared for me. As it was, I hated that word.

Cat confronted me before lunch. She gave me a big smile and asked, "Something wrong?"

"Sort of," I confessed, feeling like I had to tell someone or I'd explode. And, let's face it, when _Jade West_ explodes, nothing good can come of it. "I saw Beck walking really close to Tori and talking about love."

"Did he say he was in love with her?" Cat asked, looking shocked. "That's not very nice! I thought that he liked _you_!" This seemed to have activated Cat's angry side, something I had never really seen before. It made me half-smile.

"Well, no, he didn't say that," I admitted. "But all things considering, it seems pretty likely, don't you think?"

Cat considered this for a second. "I don't want him to like Tori," she confessed at last, her voice low. "Tori's my friend. But I want him to like you."

"Thanks, Cat," I said with a small smile. "Thanks for listening."

"I think you should talk to him!" Cat said at last. "You never know until you try."

"I guess," I told her in response. Then she gave me a quick hug (yes, I actually let her hug me) and left me alone to my thoughts, which was really a good thing because I had a lot of them.

/

Beck confronted me in my cabin during my break, just as I was ushering the last of the girls (Carrie) out of the cabin. I simply raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you want?"

"Why are you mad at me?" he demanded, stepping into my cabin (completely uninvited, might I add) and shutting the door behind him. "I mean, I thought we were friends."

"Yeah, too bad you didn't make that much clear," I hissed back, slipping back into my room and stomping my combat boots against the ground. It was good that I'd left them on, because I liked the noise they made against the floor – an angry noise, as angry as I was feeling.

"What do you mean?" Beck asked, sounding all innocent as he followed me to my room.

I glared up at him. There was really nothing else I _could_ do. "Don't act like you don't know. You shouldn't act like you're interested in me if you're into someone else. In some places, that kind of guy is considered a _jerk_."

Once I was done talking, he just stared at me, looking astounded. "Wait, you thought I was leading you on? Jade, I – I didn't mean to."

"So now you're saying that you don't like me?" I inquired. "That you're not attracted to me? You know what, Beck, just forget it. Just _forget it_. I shouldn't have thought you were different from everyone else, from _Matt._"

"Whoa." Beck's voice was stern now, harsh, and it was somehow more attractive to me than ever before. "You think that I don't – that I'm not attracted to you? Jade, I like you. A _lot_. I don't like anyone else. In fact, I have _no idea_ what you're talking about."

"I saw you with Tori this morning," I hissed, my voice venomous. "You were talking about love."

"You wanna know what I was talking about?" Beck asked. His voice was dark, like he was angry at _me_ when really he had no _right_ to be angry at me. I'd done nothing wrong. "I was talking about how I thought I could be in _love_ with you. There? You happy now?"

This sent a shock through me. The word love was something I'd hardly ever heard before, at least not in reference to me, and there he was, throwing it around like it was nothing. "You what? Beck, I don't _believe _–" I began, but once again I was cut off, this time by Beck leaning over and kissing me.

Neither of us pulled away for what felt like the longest time. It was a long, sweet kiss, but I suddenly felt compelled to pull away. I stared at him, my eyes wide. "What was that?"

He sighed. "I meant it, Jade. I _like_ you. And well... how about we, um, get to know each other?"

"That sounds like some sort of a cheesy pick up line," I scoffed. "But all right."

A small smile tugged at the edges of his lips. At last, he said, "So why are you here? I mean, I don't mean that in the bad sort of way, of course; I'm thrilled that you're here. But you don't exactly seem like the type to be all gung-ho about coming to camp."

I had to laugh at that. "I'm not, trust me. My parents forced me to come here. They thought that I was going all catatonic on them or something and decided I had to be social this summer. And they told me they'd stop paying tuition for my college if I didn't go, and I actually _like_ my college."

"You're a college student now," Beck said with a slight frown. "Isn't it time they stopped controlling your life?"

"Guess not." I sighed. "Like I said, they thought I was going catatonic, the idiots."

He looked curious now. "Why would you be going catatonic?"

I'd been hinting at this for a reason, but somehow as he asked the question, I felt myself freeze up. _You have to get it out there sometime_, I reminded myself darkly, then I told him, "I had a bad break-up. You know how things are. Guy named Matt, cheated on me with a girl like Tori. I pretty much went insane and cut off all tabs with everyone. And they decided that the remedy for a broken heart was to force me to go to camp."

"Oh." He just stared at me for a second, his eyes wide. "For the record, I can't imagine why anyone would want to cheat on you. I mean... you're better than that. Better than him."

Once again, I could feel the heat rising to my face, but I ignored it. Instead, I just asked, "What about you? Why are you here? I mean, you're more of the peppy type, but still..."

Shrugging, Beck replied, "I don't know. I heard about this camp from a friend and decided that I might give it a try. Well, to be honest, I guess I'm running away a bit too. My friends... well, they wanted to pressure me into drugs and stuff, and I guess I'm not into that stuff. I thought that maybe people here would be different."

I gave a small smile in response. "Drugs kill your brain cells. Not that you've got that many."

"Are you trying to say something?" Beck asked, elbowing me in the ribs lightly. "But yeah, don't worry. I was escaping too."

Sighing, I fell back on the bed. "When I came here, I resolved to teach my parents a lesson by not associating with anyone. And by that, I mean not getting into any friendships or romantic relationships." I glanced up at him. "I guess I failed in both respects."

"I'm glad you did," Beck retorted with a chuckle. And then we were kissing again, him pulling me close and me wrapping my arms around him, actually being gentle for once. And you know what, it wasn't that bad.

Still, paranoia flooded me, because it was the same sort of thing that Matt had done. Matt had pulled me close, wrapped his arms around me, told me that he loved me, and quite obviously it was all a lie. Just as fake as his blonde hair.

Once Beck pulled away, he smiled at me. I forced myself to smile back.

/

Of course, Cat was the first person I told. Her face lit up at once, curving into a big smile. "That's so exciting, Jade! I knew things would work out!"

"Yeah, but I don't think I trust him," I said with a sigh, staring at the ground. "After Matt... well, he reminds me a lot of my ex-boyfriend, and my ex-boyfriend ended up cheating on me. How do I know that Beck won't just do the same thing?"

Cat's brow creased, and all I could think was how cute and innocent she was – like a child, instead of a 19-year-old girl. Then she grinned again. "Well, he said he loves you, right? Or that he thought he was in love with you? If he really loves you, he wouldn't do something like that!"

"Matt said that he loved me too," I muttered. Not an easy thing for me to admit, but true nonetheless. "That was obviously a lie."

Cat thought about this for a second. "Well, get him to _prove_ that he loves you!"

My head snapped up. "Cat, it's not that easy. You can't just ask someone to prove that they love you."

That same expression of childlike innocence appeared on Cat's face. "Why _not_?"

This stumped me. For some reason, I couldn't really think of a reason why not, except that it was just _not done_. Thankfully, before I had to say anything, Helen marched over to our table, Sam at her heels. With a slightly sadistic smile, she informed me, "I've got my _eye_ on you."

I was tempted to retort '_just one?'_, but I had a feeling that doing so would get me fired. Instead, I just smiled innocently at her. "Why?"

"Because of you and your little boyfriend," Helen said, her face snarling slightly. "You'd best keep your romance _far _away from the campers."

I had to chuckle under my breath. "Will do, ma'am. I can assure you that your supervision won't be needed."

"It better not be," Helen said, and Sam seconded that with an enthusiastic nod. Then both of them walked away, which made me laugh all the more. A low chuckle resounded behind Cat and I, and I spun around to see Beck Oliver.

"How long have you been standing there?" I demanded immediately, my heart nearly stopping inside of my chest. Had he _heard_?

He just chuckled again, wrapping his arms around my waist (in a totally innocent sort of way, wouldn't want to upset the boss). "I just got here. Chill. But apparently they're thinking that we're going to be some PDA-obsessed couple?"

"I hate PDA," I replied, my voice flat.

"You don't hate me." Beck's voice was teasing now, so my immediate response was to elbow him in the gut. This just made him laugh even more.

Cat joined in with his laughter, then squealed, "You guys are adorable."

Now, I typically hated when people described me as adorable, but I was thinking that maybe I could make an exception just for now.

/

**A/N: How's that for a fast update? Thank you guys so much for all the reviews, means the world to me, jalksdgjs. You're all way too nice.**** Review for a fast update? XD (And also the last chapter, sigh.)**


	3. Chapter 3

Avoiding the Inevitable

_Chapter 3_

Beck/Jade, AU

/

Of course, once I got back to the cabin for quiet time before lunch, all of my girls were sitting at the edge of their beds, quite obviously ready to assault me with questions. Sophia, of course, was the first to speak up. "You and Beck are like, officially dating now?"

I just gave a small shrug. "Yeah, I guess." I mean, it was still weird having people call him my boyfriend, but I suppose that's what he was. There was no real word to describe us.

"What _happened_?" Lexie squealed, and even Mara looked slightly interested – well, the most interest I'd seen out of her the whole time she'd been here.

"Nothing really," I said gruffly. "I'm not allowed to say a lot, because it's not exactly appropriate, but we were just talking and it led to more, so I guess now he's my boyfriend. And that, children, is all I'm going to say about it."

Anna gave a loud laugh. "It's okay; I've seen worse! Like one time I came home and my brother was like, eating his girlfriend's face on the couch. It was really gross."

Of course, that evoked a chorus of 'ews' from the young girls, except for Mallory and Anna, who were laughing loudly. I just smiled slightly and shook my head. "We didn't eat each other, I promise. I think that might be illegal."

"I should look that up," Mara muttered under her breath. I raised an eyebrow at her.

Then all of the girls went off on different tangents, talking about boys and eating and all kinds of odd stuff that I really didn't want to be involved in, so I crept into the room, leaving the door open to comply with regulations. After a second or two, I heard footsteps creeping up into my room. Slowly, I lifted my head to see a tiny brunette, standing there, clutching a teddy bear.

"Layla?" I asked, staring at her. "Is everything okay?"

Layla just frowned and silently sat down across from me. "You seem like you really like Beck."

"I do," I confirmed with a small nod. It was really the first time that I'd ever really confirmed it, but it didn't make it any less true.

Layla squeezed her teddy bear. "Do you guys fight?"

I frowned slightly, not knowing what to say. At last, I decided to go with the truth. "Yeah, we fight."

"But you still like each other a _whole lot_?" Layla asked, a small, innocent smile making its way onto her cherubic face. Honestly, she was one of the cutest kids I'd ever seen, and yet she still seemed insanely, oddly familiar.

"Yes, we do," I replied, finally starting to see a point to this. Layla's parents fought. She wanted confirmation that they still loved each other. And while I couldn't tell her that for sure, she probably saw similarities with Beck and I.

"Okay, good." Layla gave me a small, satisfied smile. She then continued with, "I wish that you and Beck were my parents."

As she sat there, her eyes gleaming in the light from my lamp, I suddenly realized why she was so familiar. Her eyes were an awful lot like mine, but her skin tone, her dark, wavy hair – all of that looked an awful lot like Beck. She could pass for our child, if I was being honest. It was... odd. Good odd, I guess. I was also honored that she wanted me as a mom. After all, I didn't think I'd really make a good mom at all.

"I think you'd be a good child," I said with a smile, leaning down to look her in the eyes. "But I'm sure your parents will make up soon." I wasn't sure of that; I wasn't sure of anything. But it seemed cruel somehow to tell a child the heartbreaking truth of life.

"Thanks, Jade," Layla replied sweetly. Then she grinned. "You know, I think you're the best unit leader." She whispered it like it was some big secret, then she skipped back into the cabin to join the antics. All I could do was watch and shake my head, a smile forming on my face as well.

/

I sat with Cat again the next day at breakfast, mainly because she asked me to and I didn't want her to sit alone. She was going on and on about something her brother did, and sure, we were friends, but that didn't mean I wanted to hear about her brother. Seriously, did the kid ever _stop_ doing weird things?

"Cat," I asked hesitantly, "how old is your brother?"

"I dunno." Cat looked like she was deep in thought. "Twenty-one, I think."

"He's done all of that in just twenty-one years?" My eyes probably looked like they were going to bug out of my head. "Cat, are you _sure _that he did all of that?"

"Absolutely sure." Cat giggled and grinned at me. "What? Do you think my brother is weird? At school, people used to say my brother was weird, but I dunno, I think he's nice, but he just does weird stuff sometimes. Everyone does weird stuff sometimes. Does that make him weird? Oh my gosh, Jade, does that make me weird?"

"No, that doesn't make you weird," I said darkly. "It makes you Cat."

"That's deep," Cat said, sounding amazed. She sat there in silence for a few minutes, pondering this, which thankfully gave me a moment of peace. That was, until someone poked me in the back.

I turned around and was pulled into a sudden, short kiss. When Beck pulled away, he was smirking from ear to ear. "Sorry, had to keep it G-rated. We're being watched, remember?"

I slapped him on the arm. "Way to scare me half to death, jerk."

"You love it," he teased.

"Look, I need to talk to you," I whispered, the weight of the discussion I'd had with Layla still heavy on my shoulders.

"All right, free time?" he asked, an innocent smile on his face. I just nodded in response, pressing a kiss to his smooth cheek.

Cat seemed to finally realize what was going on. Innocently, she chirped, "Oh, hi Beck! When did you get here?" Beck and I just exchanged a glance and shook our heads, mirth clear in our eyes.

/

Cat won Cabin Cleanup that day, which wasn't as surprising as it should've been. I gave her a one-armed hug and felt proud of myself, considering my usual aversion to human contact (except, of course, when it came to Beck. Speaking of Beck, he arrived at my cabin just as break time was about to begin.

"Can we go for a walk?" I inquired.

"Course," he said, looking nervous – well, nervous for him, the boy who hardly ever showed emotion about _anything_. "Something you want to talk about?"

I nodded as we walked out the door. His hand found mine almost automatically and he twined our fingers together, a gesture that almost made me smile. I forced the stoic expression back onto my face. "I want to talk about us."

"About us?" Beck raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?"

"What are we?" I declared impatiently.

"Well, you're my girlfriend," Beck replied easily, glancing over at me. "Aren't you?"

Relief filled me. I guess it was since we'd never really explicitly stated it, I'd just assumed that we weren't, you know, _together. _I kind of liked the sound of it, though – Beck Oliver's girlfriend. Nodding slightly, I told him, "I'd like that."

"Good." Beck leaned over and pressed a kiss to my temple. "There's something else, isn't there?"

I sighed, pulling my hand out of his and stepping in front of him so that I could look him in the eyes. "Look, Beck, I like you. I _really _do. But I don't want this to be just another summer fling. I don't want to be just another line on your list of girlfriends."

"Jade, I..." Beck ran a hand through his hair, looking legitimately concerned about this. "I... you're different. I have never felt about anyone the way I feel about you." As cheesy as it was, it was nice to hear. He finished it up with, "It won't be, Jade. It can't be."

Then he leaned forward to kiss me and everything else was forgotten.

/

"We're having a cookout?" Lexie exclaimed, skipping around, then coming back to grab my hand. "Hurry up, Jade! We can't be late for the cookout."

"We're not gonna be," I grumbled, wiping some of the sweat off my brow.

"We might!" Reina contributed dramatically, throwing her arms in the air. "What are we gonna do at the cookout? Are we gonna cook marshmallows? Fry hotdog wienies? Sing campfire songs? Tell _ghost _stories? I have really good ghost stories!"

Mara scowled at Reina. "I just want some s'mores. Ghosts aren't real anyway."

"Are too!" Reina protested. I sighed and grabbed Reina's hand with my free hand, dragging her to the site of the campfire. And of course, we were the last to arrive. The only free space was with Beck's cabin.

Beck beckoned us over with a grin on his face. Once I plopped down beside my boyfriend, he kissed me quickly on the lips and returned to practically incinerating his marshmallow. I wrinkled my nose. "Marshmallows aren't good when they look like burnt rubber."

"Are too," Beck protested, handing me a skewer with a marshmallow on it. "Can't knock it till you've tried it."

"Can too," I grumbled, but I stuck my marshmallow out anyway.

Carrie watched me with wide eyes. "Can't you get _burnt_?"

"No, stupid," one of Beck's campers jumped in. "That's what the metal stick is for."

This made Katie tense up. She was obviously ready to jump in and fight the dude to defend her friend's honor, but thankfully Beck jumped in. "It's not very nice to call people stupid, Jake."

"Jade calls you stupid a lot," Sidney said innocently, but a small smile crept up on the edges of her face. I sighed, burying my face in my hands.

Beck had to laugh at that. "Yeah, well, that's different. Sometimes if people are very close, they insult each other. It's a way of showing love."

I slapped him on the shoulder, my cheeks flaming again. Beck started laughing again, probably at my obvious embarrassment and discomfort, and most of my girls looked like they had stars in their eyes, which just made me even _more _embarrassed. It was funny how one (stupid) guy could get me so worked up.

Beside me, Carrie nudged me. "Can you help me burn my marshmallow?" she asked innocently, holding out her metal skewer. I nodded, taking the skewer from her and sticking it back in the fire. She watched with hungry eyes as the flames devoured her marshmallow, and as soon as I stuck it between graham crackers (and added some chocolate) she did the same.

"I _love_ s'mores," Mara declared, a smile actually making its way onto her face. I grinned at her, grateful that even _she _was in a good mood tonight.

"Look at the sky tonight," Reina said, staring up with a sigh. "It's gorgeous out tonight."

"Definitely," Layla agreed. I glanced up, suddenly amazed by the expanse of black velvet sky and bright, shining stars that hung above me. All of the boys were groaning and complaining about how 'romantic' the girls were, but I couldn't even really understand what they were saying – all I could comprehend was how big the sky was and how small I was in comparison.

Beck's hand was suddenly on mine, squeezing it, keeping me grounded. He pressed a kiss cautiously to my cheek, which just proceeded to make the boys groan even more.

As we all began to sing camp songs, though, I suddenly realized that I'd grown extremely accustomed to this camp, to these people. It was almost as though we were a family. It seemed that I didn't actually hate camp after all.

Wouldn't my mother be pleased to hear that?

/

The day after the campfire, I was practically buzzing with happiness – which, for me, meant I wasn't frowning, but whatever. I suppose that was what gave Robbie the confidence to come to me for advice, since I wasn't exactly 'Ask Annie' or whatever.

"Jade," he said, chewing on his bottom lip. "You're really good friends with Cat, right?"

"I guess you could say that," I replied with a shrug. "Why?" In all honesty, though, I knew why. I'd seen the signs for ages now, and I was just waiting on them to get together already. (Also, I was involved in a bet with Beck, Trina, and Sinjin. Not that I'd ever tell Robbie.)

"Because I asked her out, and I just... want to know how to get her to say yes." He glanced down at the ground, his cheeks flaming already.

I decided that I could have a bit of fun with this. "Wear a bikni." I smirked, crossing my arms. "Cat loves bikinis."

"Jade!" Robbie gasped, looking scandalized. And let's face it, I could've said _so much worse_. This boy needed a Sex Ed class or something.

"Fine." I frowned. "Just... let her know that you care about her. She's kinda weird. She likes random animals, especially those that are colored wrong – like green koalas and purple giraffes and pink elephants, I don't know. She also likes sugar, but only give her sugary things if you're prepared to deal with her sugar high. I dunno, maybe get her a ring or something. She'd probably wear it."

"Oh." Robbie pulled out a notepad and quickly scribbled it all down, then grinned up at me. "Thanks, Jade. You're a pretty good friend."

"Yeah, no problem," I told him, my face twisted into a sadistic smirk. "Though I do suggest wearing a bikini. Either that or a bra."

"Not gonna happen," Robbie called as he turned to walk off.

"If you do, take pictures!" I yelled after him. "Either that or video! Either one will do!"

One of the guys walking by, who I recognized as being named Andre, just raised an eyebrow at me, looking more amused than concerned. I grinned at his expression, and he smiled back. "You got some nerve, girl. I think I like it."

I just laughed as he walked off.

/

That night, I found Cat Valentine sitting alone by the lake, on top of a shiny rock. I stopped and plopped down beside her. "What's up, Cat?"

"Look," Cat giggled, thrusting her hand into my face. Just as I had suspected, on her fourth finger, she was wearing a silver ring with a pink gemstone, something that I would've hated but was perfect for Cat. "Isn't it pretty?"

"It's gorgeous, Cat," I replied, then decided to play innocent. "Who gave it to you?"

"Robbie," Cat said, playing absently with her ring, but I could tell by the smile in her dark eyes that something major had gone down between the two of them.

"Are you guys dating now?" I simply inquired, figuring it would at least get me _some _answers.

"Yeah." She grinned at me. "Only we're not supposed to be, so shhh, don't tell anybody." She glanced at the ground, kicking her feet back and forth. "I didn't think I was ever gonna date another counselor. But I guess I made an exception for Robbie." She shot me a bright smile. "Do you think that going out with Robbie was the right thing to do? Because I like him, really I do, but..." She glanced down. "I feel really bad to be breaking the rules. Is that weird?"

"No, Cat, I think you did the right thing," I said, glancing up at her. "If you like Robbie, then you should go with your heart, as cheesy and stupid as that sounds. Speaking of, never tell anyone that I said that. Anyway, if you really like Robbie, it's probably the right thing to do, so long as you're happy. And besides, that dude likes you a lot – so much that he actually came to _me_ for advice on what to do about you, can you believe it? He's like, terrified of me."

"Oh. Okay." Cat seemed to consider this, then she smiled again. "That's good. But you can't tell anyone, okay Jade? I don't want to get fired."

"They can't fire you. You're allowed to date other staff members, just not get caught doing anything. But I won't tell anyone." I sighed. "If I did, they'd probably drill me about Beck and I, and that would be incredibly awkward. They've been like, drilling us about if we're doing anything 'raunchy'."

Cat giggled, then grinned over at me. "Thanks, Jade," she said, picking up my hand and giving it a small squeeze. "You're a good friend."

I nodded, then gave her hand a small squeeze in return. "You too."

/

The end of the week came far too soon. None of the campers seemed glad to leave, not even the ever-negative Mara, who admitted that camp was better than home. All of the campers pretty much clung to me, and I gave them hugs and said that I would miss them. I'd never actually been good at emotional kind of things, and this was extremely emotional, to say the least. Reina, the most dramatic of all the campers, actually cried.

"You're staying here, right?" Sophia grinned at me. "And Beck is too?"

"Definitely," I said with a nod, kneeling down to wrap an arm around her shoulder. "Why?"

"Just wondering." Sophia raised an eyebrow. "Don't do anything bad!"

I shook my head, holding back my laughter. "I'll try not to. You be good too, Sophia. Remember what I told you. Keep that mouth under control."

"Sure thing, Captain Jade," Sophia called as she walked away. Mallory and Lexie attacked me next, and even Reina wiped away her tears to give me a hug.

"You're the best cabin leader," Mara admitted with a stoic face. "All the other ones were too peppy. Especially that Tori girl."

"I heard that!" Tori called from a couple of feet away. I just made a face at her. We weren't on horrible terms, but we weren't BFFs, and due to our conflicting personalities, probably would never be. And it seemed we were both fine with that. (I was even _starting_ to be fine with her friendship with Beck.)

"Thanks, Mara." I gave her a small smile. "Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"Usually I don't let people tell me what to do," Mara admitted, "but the list of things you wouldn't do is so short that it's hardly a limitation, so okay."

I pretended to be offended at that.

The last girl to come through to me was Layla. Instead of looking sad, though, she looked panicked. "Wait a second, Jade, don't go anywhere! I have to go get something. I mean, I have something for you!"

"You don't have to do that," I said, but I softened a bit. She had actually gotten me something? This was something that I most assuredly hadn't been expecting, kids so sweet that they would give me gifts, despite the fact that I was basically a horrible person.

"I want to," Layla retorted stubbornly. "Stay right here, okay? I'll be back in a second."

"I'm staying here because I want to," I said to myself with a small laugh.

After a minute or two, Layla returned, a jewelry box in her hand. This in itself concerned me – what nine-year-old brought jewelry to camp, where it could get lost, much less gave it to their cabin leader? But when she took off the lid, my eyes widened.

There were two necklaces in there, the kind you get when you're young and naïve and think that your friendships are actually going to last forever. It was a heart split in half, and on one side it said 'for'. On the other side, it said 'ever'. I just glanced up and raised an eyebrow at Layla. "What exactly is this?

"I want you to have it." Layla grinned and thrust the box at me. "Give half of it to Beck so that you guys will be together forever."

"I can't take this, Layla." With a frown, I pushed it back. It felt like stealing somehow, even though it couldn't have been that expensive.

"I said already that I _want _you to have it," Layla protested, her eyebrows furrowing. "Please? I don't want it, and I want you guys to stay together forever and ever. Please, Jade? Please?"

I've gotta admit that I have always had a weak spot for puppy dog eyes. It's really quite embarrassing. So when she gave me the best puppy dog eyes I'd ever seen, I could do nothing but melt and accept her gift. "Thanks, Layla," I said. "Thanks a lot. I'm honored."

"No problem," Layla replied with a huge grin. She then proceeded to attack me in a hug, which really was more like crushing me, but whatever. "I'll miss you, Jade. You're the best cabin leader ever."

"I'll miss you too, kid," I said gruffly, ruffling her hair, because let's face it, sappy really _isn't_ my thing. "You're going to be just fine."

"I know." Layla smiled shyly. "You and Beck stay together, okay? Remember what I said?"

"We will," I promised, and she skipped off, looking completely adorable. Of course, Beck picked that exact time to walk up, widen his eyes, and mouth 'What?'. I had to laugh at his stunned expression, but in response I just shook my head. What was there to say, really? "I'll tell you later."

"You better," was his response, but he grinned at me. I just shook my head and kissed him on the cheek.

/

The camp was empty that night. It would've been quite eerie had I been alone, but as it was I had Beck by my side, his hand tight around mine. The stars were out again, decorating the sky and lighting it up. Just one of the many benefits of nature, I'd discovered.

I groaned all of a sudden, and he turned to look at me, raising his eyebrows. Shrugging, I said, "Jeremiah's coming next week."

"Jeremiah?" he inquired, looking confused.

"My brother," I replied, rolling my eyes. "He's an absolute brat a lot of the time, but I suppose he can be a good kid. At times. Rarely."

Beck just looked concerned, then he laughed. "Well, maybe he'll be in my cabin."

"Let's hope not." I shuddered at the thought. "Now _that_ would be slow, burning torture, both for me and for you."

He laughed again. "I guess we'll see, huh?" Then his face softened. He slowly removed his hand from mine and wrapped his arm around my shoulder, pulling me close. "What were you talking to that girl about before?"

"Her name's Layla," I informed him, frowning a little bit. "And..." I hesitated, glancing down and not really wanting to tell him what she'd said. Somehow it just seemed too early, too much, too early, really. I was scared that if I told him, he'd just up and leave right then. Or maybe he would get freaked out and cheat on me, much like Matt had. That was the bad thing about relationships, the bad ones left you scarred and ruined your good ones.

"Is something wrong?" Beck inquired, placing his hand under my chin to tilt it back up so that I was looking him in the eyes.

"Sorta." I sighed. "It's just that... I don't say this. I shouldn't say this. But I'm scared. Scared that you'll cheat on me or ditch me or that you'll decide that I'm not enough anymore. That one day you'll wake up and realize that I'm not what you thought I was and leave."

He bit his lip, his eyes suddenly intense. Then he grabbed my wrists and stared at me. "I can't promise you that we'll never fight. I can't even promise you that I'll never leave. But I can promise you that I will never do anything to purposefully hurt you. I.. I just couldn't do it."

That right there was more than anything Matt had promised. I couldn't help it; I leaned forward and kissed him gently. Then slowly, I reached into my pocket and pulled out the necklaces.

"Layla gave these to me," I said, pulling them out and handing them to him for him to examine. "She said that we should wear them so that we would be together forever."

That made him laugh. "What is this, some kind of weird superstition?"

"She's nine, Beck," I retorted with a glare. "I doubt she believes in superstitions. Probably magic or something like that."

"I know." Beck picked up a necklace and smiled. "I think it's cute, though."

"You gonna be for or ever?" I inquired, rolling my eyes.

"I think I'll be ever," he said, picking up _ever_ and handing the _for _necklace to me. "Just because it's at the end, and I dunno, I like it better." Quickly, he slid his around his neck and fastened it, then leaned over to help me with mine. The feel of his fingers against my neck was strangely satisfying. I glanced down at my necklace and smiled slightly.

He leaned over to my ear once he was finished and quietly whispered, "You're a good counselor, did you know?" before pressing his lips to mine again lightly. "And you wanna know something else?" he asked as he pulled away, staying just a few inches from my lips.

I pretended to ponder this for a second, my eyes dark. "I don't know, do I?"

"I think you do." He grinned that stupid crooked grin at me, and let's be honest, I wanted to melt. "I." He kissed my lips lightly. "Love." Another kiss. "You."

I just grinned and shook my head. "I love you too. Stupid." And then we were kissing again, and hey, maybe this wasn't so bad. Maybe Camp Vision wasn't so bad after all.

/

**A/N: ok it's been fifty years since the last chap because i actually hate this chapter i'm sorry** **it's just so very bad**

**but i decided to man up and post it so here you go**

**thanks for all the reviews! :) i'm glad you guys have liked it.**


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